This morning we continue in our study of the Apostle’s Creed, and as we have done with each clause, let’s recite it together. So far in our study, we have confessed that God is Father and Almighty. In these two attributes of God, we are confessing that he is a personal, spiritual being who is intimately involved in his creation, and that he is in full control of all that he has made. Now we come to a third attribute of God in confessing that he is “Maker/Creator of heaven and earth.”
By confessing God as creator, we distinguish ourselves from two popular beliefs of our time. First, we reject the idea that the world came into existence through the purely random, chaotic processes of natural forces. There are many who believe that the universe came to be from nothing, or at least from a primordial atom which exploded to create all that we now know. This believe in an unattended, uncaused big bang is a fairytale for three reasons. One, it denies all three of Newton’s Laws. This supposed primordial atom could not burst into a universe without a force equal or greater to itself acting upon it. Two, it denies the second law of thermodynamics, which states that systems become less complex (or more chaotic) over time. As energy is used in the universe, the universe degrades in complexity and moves towards nothingness, not away from it. Three, it denies the lived experience that everyone knows: order does not come from disorder. Intelligence does not rise out of inert matter. Life cannot come from non-life.
Second, we reject the belief that the universe has always existed, that it is the eternal reality, not God. Pagans equate the universe with God, valuing Mother Earth as divine, worshipping the stars, and appealing to the natural forces of life as though they have personal involvement in the world.
No, we believe that God is the creator of heaven and earth. We believe this because we see it written into nature itself, and we also have it revealed to us through the Word of God. I’d like you to consider three ways that nature reveals our creator God, and three ways that Scripture reveals him.
First, nature reveals God through its order. If the universe came into existence because of Chaos, then we would expect our world to be chaotic and unpredictable. Yet, that is not what we find at all. Instead, we find a predictable world in which we can trust that if we discover a law of nature, that law will be the same everywhere on this earth. If Force is equal to the mass of an object times its acceleration, then that law is just as true in Alabama as it is in Nepal. And, if there are any variations in that law, they can be explained by other laws with formulas. Not only that, but the universe as a whole is perfectly balanced, with the same number of total negative electrons to positive protons. Our solar system is also perfectly balanced. If the planet Jupiter were not in our solar system, the earth would be uninhabitable. Because Jupiter is so large, it absorbs harmful comets and asteroids as they whiz by on their way to earth. If the moon were just a few yards closer to earth, the tides on earth would be so great that it would flood the earth, yet it stays perfectly in orbit, governing our tides and seasons. This order can only come from the hand of a Great Designer.
Second, nature reveals God through its beauty. The scientist tells us that flowers are colorful because that attracts the bees. They explain that the sky turns beautiful shades in the evening because of the prismatic effect of the water molecules in the air. They observe that the duck’s immaculate plume simply exists for mating. And yet, when we look at a field of flowers, a mountaintop sunset, or a wood duck, we don’t see bland scientific facts. We see beauty. We see the beauty of all these things, individually, but also the beauty of all of them together. If the world were just a set of meaningless, chaotic, unrelated scientific laws, where does all of this beauty come from and why do we perceive it to be so? Beauty comes from the mind of a Good God.
Third, nature reveals God through its purposefulness. Again, the scientist will explain that the bee cannot exist without the flower, and the flower without the bee. The scientist will also explain that whole ecosystems are finely tuned so that the animals, plants, and even the ground itself all work together to sustain life. All of this points to a purpose. The bee was made to pollinate and the flower to produce pollen. The river was made to flow with cool water from mountain snow caps, and the salmon were made to thrive in that cool water. Man and Woman seem to be made for a purpose, too. Among all of creation, we alone concern ourselves with the care of this world. We seem to be fitted for gardening, for having dominion, for creating new things out of the stuff of this world. This purposefulness points to a Heavenly Father who made us for it.
God has not only revealed himself in creation, but also in his Word. So, we end today by considering Genesis 1. God reveals his character in three ways that he made this world. First, God created this world with boundaries. Notice verses 3-4 with me. There is a pattern throughout Genesis 1, in which God separates and forms his world with boundaries. Here, he separates light from dark. In verse 6 he separates the waters into the sky, sea, and heavens. In verse 9 he distinguishes water from earth. When he begins to create life on earth, he creates each according to its kind, establishing boundaries between plant life and fish and birds and creeping things and animals of the forest and field. Then, in the pinnacle of his creation, in verses 26-27 he creates man in his own image, and even there he separates male from female, establishing distinct natures and roles for each. God created an ordered, bounded world in which his laws would govern everything from gravitational force to the fruits that his people should eat.
Second, God created this world to be beautiful. Notice verse 31. At various points in this creation story, it says that God declares each thing that he made to be good. And here, in verse 31, he declares all of it to be very good. The Hebrew word used here is “toba”, which means more than just a moral goodness. Rather, it means “to fit the purpose for which something was made.” I get the sense of this kind of goodness every time my family sits around our dinner table, because I made the table. I experience that enjoyment of having made it for a purpose, and now it fulfills that purpose – it is “toba”. You might get that sense after you train or study, and then through those skills you’ve picked up, you are able to do something you could not do before. That is “toba”. It is the essence of what it means to be beautiful, to show forth the purpose of the creator. This world is good, it is beautiful, because our God made it to be so. This world is fitted for our good, for our enjoyment, so that we might marvel at our Creator.
Lastly, God created this world to be blessed. Notice verse 28. In this verse, God blesses man and woman and gives them the command to be fruitful and multiply. God created this world to bring forth the blessing of life. As I said earlier, life does not come from non-life. Life exists by the express blessing of God, and it is God’s will that life would multiply and fill his creation. As Christians, we value human life, from womb to tomb. We believe that every life has potential because every life is made in the image of God, regardless of whether that life resides in the womb or on a death bed. Every life is valuable to God, whether born with Down Syndrome or as a prodigy. Every life is meaningful, regardless of race, nationality, or economic position. God has blessed this world with life, and we should defend it. We should promote practices that encourage marriage, families, and the raising of children. We should teach our own children to find one of their greatest purposes and responsibilities in having and raising the next generation. God has made us for this blessing, and we should rightly value it.
Friend, God has made you to be a part of this ordered, beautiful, blessed world. He has made you for a purpose. Yet, the only way to truly know that purpose is to find it in him. Won’t you trust Christ today and find your life’s purpose in him?
Brothers and sisters, we worship a good creator who has fitted us for this world and given us a purpose. May we leave this place and glorify him in this world that he has made.
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